Character Profile: Erron

The first of my character profiles is Erron, the villain of Elf Tears. Creating Erron (originally named Tiquniyi) has been something of a journey for me. When I first started this story, he was a very flat, stereotypical character. He was a tall, foreboding elf with long black hair who did evil because he liked being evil and wanted power. But the way the plot went required him to have character growth in a manner that wouldn't work with such a cliché character; I needed to give him real motivations, but for some time I struggled to find ones that pleased me. I played around with background stories for him, trying to at least give him a reason for being evil, but nothing really stuck.

My first real step forward in building his character came from a Star Wars expanded universe trilogy. (I don't know the name of the trilogy as a whole, though I've heard it called the Thrawn trilogy before, but the first book is Heir to the Empire.) The villain in the trilogy, Grand Admiral Thrawn, was a charismatic, fascinating character that I almost found myself rooting for at times because he was just so brilliant and interesting. I decided that I wanted my villain to be that likable (in his own way, of course! I have no desire to plagiarize), and to do that I really had to make him less two-dimensional. Over time he became less outwardly gruff and cruel. His language became a little more friendly and conversational. He started to reward loyalty and actually take care of those in his command, and their families as well. I wanted him to be outwardly friendly and charismatic, someone that people would actually want to follow. And I finally settled on a motivation for him: he wants to combine elfin magic and human technology to improve both societies. He even tried to do it by going to the elves and humans and asking them to help him, but the leaders of both cultures at the time were highly xenophobic. So, deciding that the end justified the means, he started the war to force them to work together. Of course, this wasn't entirely altruistic. He enjoys ruling the territories and the power of controlling the project himself, and at the start of the book he already has another forest of elves under his command; he is trying to take over Émere partially in revenge and partially to make them cooperate so he can prove he was right. Not that he would admit that out loud!

Anyway, here is his profile :)

Name: Erron
Species: Elf
Age: mid to late fifties
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 6'3"
Likes: Hiking, rock climbing, exploring
Dislikes: being wrong
Favorite food: roasted elk and potatoes
Most hated food: anything overly sweet
Favorite animal: wyverns
Steed of choice: griffin
Life goals: find ways to combine magic and technology for cool inventions and improved quality of life

Just for fun, I'm also including the scene where Éadra first meets Erron. Perhaps more than any other, this scene shows the influence Thrawn had on the character (via the logic Erron uses in this scene, as well as the way he handles the knight's mistake.) Hopefully it doesn't border on plagiarism! (If anyone has read the Thrawn trilogy and thinks it does, please let me know). Anyway, in this scene, the knight who captured Éadra has just taken her to the castle and sends for Erron. He thinks, however, that he has captured her twin, Learé.
Meeting Erron

When they entered the castle, the knight asked a servant to send word to Erron that he had captured princess Learé. The servant must have thought the knight's breach in proprietary worth doing so, because he ran off at once. It was, however, a good half hour before Erron came.

Erron's dark brown hair came nearly to his shoulders, and he wore a silver circlet on his head. His midnight blue robes matched his eyes, which sparkled as he smiled. On his feet he wore black boots. He did not look like a very dangerous man, but he was flanked by two muscular guards with shaved heads who looked quite the opposite.  Éadra caught his eyes for a brief moment, and rage bubbled up inside of her as she realized she was facing the man who killed her mother. She quickly dropped her gaze and focused on calming down. There would be time enough later to be angry, but she could not afford it now. If she acted out, she would be killed.  

“Really, you have no business ordering my servants around,” he said to the knight. “But the news was so good I had to come. However, it appears you've caught the wrong princess.” At the knight's surprised expression, he continued, “You see, I have heard a good deal about Learé's skill in battle. My men all find her a worthy opponent. She would not have been captured so easily.

“And there's something else,” he said, touching the faint line that was all that was left of the forehead wound. “That must have been quite the cut. There is no way it healed so neatly on its own. She healed you, didn't she? I understand that  Éadra is the healer twin.” Mark was looking more and more frightened as Erron talked, so that  Éadra found herself feeling a little bad for him. But then Erron continued,

“That does not make your capture any less worthy. Go get some rest. I will send for you later to discuss your reward.” The knight marched off wearing a relieved smile.

Erron turned to  Éadra. “Now, what to do with you,” he said. “I should just kill you now. I know you let yourself be captured, and having you here puts me at risk.” He paused for a moment, and  Éadra raised her eyebrow.

“How could I possibly be a risk to you?” she said. “I'm in your territory, surrounded by your guards, with no resources at my disposal. And your fortress is so well protected, I doubt I could even escape.”

“Don't treat me like I'm an idiot,” snapped Erron. “You wouldn't have come here without some means of escape.”  Éadra took an involuntary step backwards at the sudden anger in his voice. But the anger left as suddenly at it had come, and his voice was calm when he spoke again.

“I do not wish to kill you,” he said. “You could be useful to me. I'll have to lock you away until I've decided what to do with you.” He turned to the guards. “Take her to the prison tower,” he said. “I want her in the highest cell, three guards in the room with her, and two more without. Her confinement is top priority.” The guards nodded and left the room.